


Merry Christmas Jane

by Jacqualine



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Advent Calendar, F/M, Kindred Spirits Advent Calendar, Not so Plain Jane, One Shot, tall dark and handsome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:21:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27982212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jacqualine/pseuds/Jacqualine
Summary: Day Nine of the Kindred Spirits Advent Calendar - At a Christmas party, Jane is feeling like a wall flower.
Relationships: Jane Andrews/Original Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15
Collections: Kindred Spirits Advent Calendar





	Merry Christmas Jane

Jane leaned against the wall in the corner of the room, arms crossed over her chair, frowning. "Come on Jane it will be fun." Ruby had insisted. Diana's Aunt Josephine was having a Christmas Party and they were all going. It wasn't the party Jane had been against, it was how she would feel at the party. Ever since they moved to Charlottetown to attend Queens Academy, it had become clear to Jane that she just wasn't as attractive as her friends. 

All of them had beaus declared or trying to declare for them. Every Saturday during visiting hours, boys...men, would come calling for them. Tillie had the Pauls, as always but there were a few more men vying for her attention in Charlottetown. Ruby had Moody who never failed to visit, bringing her flowers, candy and tokens of his affection. Anne had Gilbert, but he was away in Toronto, so he wasn't there, other gentlemen sometimes made attempts to visit her but she refused to see them, or she wasn't even home, off having adventures with Cole in Charlottetown. Josie and Diana had many suitors, as the prettiest girls at the boarding house, the visitors never seemed to end, fresh flowers for them were all over the house. Jane had never had a visitor, and no one even tried to approach her at school. She'd come to understand the term "Plain Jane" painfully. In Avonlea there was always Prissy, her beautiful older sister, she dressed impeccably, she was smart and could hold her own in any discussion. Jane had imagined she would grow up to be as pretty, intelligent and competent as Prissy, sadly that didn't appear to be the case.

She stood up straight and stalked over to the table that had the food on it, eating a slice of an orange before picking up some sort of pastry in the shape of a horn, stuffed with cream and topped with nuts. She watched Anne and Gilbert dancing, almost inseparable since he returned for Christmas break. Ruby and Moody were in the corner by the piano, talking quietly to each other, smiles and blushes on both their cheeks. Diana was talking to a handsome blond man that Jane had seen on campus a few times, Josie was sipping from a crystal glass, her arm tucked into a handsome ginger's arm. Jane rolled her eyes at that, how often had Josie been mean to Anne for her red hair? Tillie was holding court, sitting in a chair with no less than six men surrounding her, all vying to get her attention. 

Jane stuffed the pastry into her mouth and grabbed another before walking away. She was going to go check out some of the art hanging up in Josephine Barry's hallway. She had just about crossed the threshold to the hall when someone cleared their throat behind her, causing her to stop and turn around. 

He was handsome, clear blue eyes, jet black hair combed back, he had high cheekbones, and perfect teeth that he flashed to her when he smiled. He glanced down to her chest area and she was about to be offended by his brazen ogling of her when he finally spoke.

"You have a little..." He pointed vaguely in the direction of her chest and she looked down, there were flakes of pastry all over her chest. 'Damn it Jane.' She said to herself. as she began to brush the flakes off.

"Thanks." She said to him, feeling embarrassed that such a handsome man would have to point out her sloppiness. He was still staring at her, with a look of expectancy on his face, she didn't know what he wanted. "Merry Christmas." She finally said and began to leave.

"Beg your pardon Miss." He said to her before she could leave, she looked at him again. He smiled and then glanced up, causing her to look up to see what he was seeing. Tied to the door frame above her was a sprig of mistletoe. She groaned inwardly, feeling her stomach knotting up with nerves. Finally tearing her eyes off the cursed plant to look at Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome, who was now grinning at her, with one eyebrow raised. 

"You can't be serious." She finally said.

"Why wouldn't I be? It's tradition." He said. She noted for the first time he had a hint of a British accent.

"It's a silly tradition."

"Maybe, but to break the custom is said to be terrible luck for the woman that refuses." He reminded her. As if her luck could get any worse.

"I'm definitely not going to kiss a total stranger. Think of the scandal." She pointed out to him.

"What scandal? No one is even looking at us." 

She looked around and he was right, all her friends and all the other party guests where dancing, eating, drinking, talking and laughing, not one person was looking in their direction. "Did you just stand around this door all night waiting for innocent girls..."

"Women." He interrupted her, causing her to narrow her eyes at him.  
"Waiting for innocent women to walk through the door, under the mistletoe so you can take advantage of a silly custom?"

His answering grin seemed almost lecherous, dangerous and incredibly tempting. For the first time she considered actually kissing him. "Just the beautiful ones. And I have been wait all night."

She rolled her eyes at that. "Now you reveal yourself to be a cad, telling me lies."

"What lies? I saw the most beautiful woman here tonight and felt too afraid to approach her, I saw as she greeted many friends, and then retreated to that spot against the wall. I watched her eat an orange slice and a cannoli and then when she moved toward the door and the mistletoe, I took my chance."

Had he really been watching her? She was very certain her was a terrible womanizer, and that she shouldn't trust a word he said to her. He was extremely handsome, however, and she would be left with a titillating tale to share with her friends of her first kiss.

"If you are worried about me being a complete stranger, allow me to introduce myself, Winston Brownlow, it is a pleasure to meet you Miss?" He held out his hand in greeting.

"Jane Andrews." She replied, taking his hand in her, it was warm and just a bit rough, he didn't perform manual labour but he did use his hands for something.

"A pleasure Miss Andrews." He said lifting her knuckles to his lips. His breath brew across her knuckles and she felt herself shiver. Could she, should she really allow this to happen? "Now we are well met, wouldn't you say?" He asked, his voice a bit lower than before, Jane wondered if this was how Eve felt in the Garden, when Lucifer tempted her.

"Indeed we are." She agreed.

"Well, then?" He asked, still holding her hand and looking up at the mistletoe.

"Alright then." She gave him her consent. He stepped closer, no male had been this close to her in her life, besides her father and brother, he was quite tall and his shoulders were broad, he would likely block anyone from seeing whom he was kissing. He put one hand on her cheek and leaned in, pressing his lips to hers. 

'This wasn't so bad.' she thought at the first touch, it didn't give her butterflies in her stomach like Anne claimed Gilbert's kisses did, but it was pleasant enough. Then Winston, angled his head and moved his lips against her, she gasped at the sensation and when her lips opened, he slipped his tongue into her mouth and stroked hers with his. The sensation caused a heady rush of warmth through her body, pooling between her legs. She knew that was something she shouldn't be feeling with a man she had only just met, but she wasn't willing to end the kiss just yet, she wanted to prolong it for just a few more moments. She put both her arms around his neck and leaned against him, sighing into his mouth, allowing her own tongue to venture into his mouth. No one had ever told her tongues could be involved, what a deliciously sinful thing to find out. She was sure her mother would not approve and that made Jane want to continue kissing the handsome Winston all night.

She couldn't stop herself from emitting a little whine when he lifted his lips from hers, smiling down at her. His eyes darting all over her face.

"Might I call on you Jane?" He asked. She nodded, mutely. "I look forward to seeing you again soon." He let her go and she dropped her arms, only then noticing that she was still holding the pastry, and it was in pieces in her hand and on his suit jacket. He followed her gaze to where she was staring at in horror, pastry crumbs and cream all over his suit. He laughed and lifted his hand to the side of his face where there was more of the pastry. "Well met indeed." He said as he nodded and walked away.

She had stuffed that one up, hadn't she?" She thought as she tried to make her heart return to normal and hoped her face wasn't too flushed.

"Jane Andrews. I can not believe my eyes." Cole said to her as he approached from the hallway to her left. Shame washed over her, Cole would tell everyone and she would be the subject of gossip. She remembered how Josie had suffered after Billy's kiss.

"I...tradition." She pointed up at the mistletoe, hoping that would be enough of an explanation.

"I can't believe he actually did that." Cole said, grinning. He didn't look shocked or angry by her behaviour, he looked amused. "He saw you arrive and told me you were the prettiest girl he had ever seen. He was going to ask you to dance, in hopes of getting to know you. That wasn't a dance."

"Was this a game or a dare?" She asked, worried she'd been made a fool.

"Not at all. He's a total gentleman."

"You know him?" If Cole knew him, he couldn't be that bad.

"Sure, his brother is my boy...best friend. Winston is great. Are you going to see him again?"

"He asked to call on me...oh I didn't tell him where he could do that." She realised.

"He already knows, I already told him you board at the same house as Anne." So he really had seen her and really did think she was the prettiest girl there? Jane couldn't stop from smiling, she'd met a handsome stranger and had kissed him under the mistletoe, and now she was certain he was going to come calling on her. 

"I have to tell the girls what just happened." She told Cole and with that, dashed off to find her friends.


End file.
